The present invention relates to backpacks worn by users engaged in outdoor recreational activities, such as hiking, camping, and wilderness traveling, and more particularly, to an improved bottle holding system installed upon a backpack unit to carry a bottle of water or other liquid in a retained but readily available position with the further capability of being user-actuated to release the bottle from the retained position when needed and replaced into the retained position thereafter.
Backpacks are widely used by hikers and other pedestrian travelers involved in outdoor recreational activities that may extend for long periods of time, most commonly in wilderness hiking and camping, with the backpacks serving as a most convenient means for carrying the gear and supplies needed by the traveler during the extended time of a journey. Hiking backpacks, as they are often called, are generally made having a closable bag-like rear casing of a certain volume that is constructed of strong fabric and formed in a compartmentalized fashion to allow storage of a variety of separate items considered important to the hiker. The rear casing of the backpack is typically supported upon a rigid frame and further coupled to a forward harnessing arrangement of adjustable belts and straps that include a pair of shoulder straps, one or more waist belts and sometimes other intermediate torso straps that together allow the backpack to be worn securely and in a stabilized manner upon the back of the hiker whether full or partially-loaded with gear, supplies and other important items.
One of the most important items to the hiking traveler and certainly an essential one for carrying on a backpack is a supply of drinking water or other liquid for hydration. To supply this vital element of drinking water, some backpacks are found equipped with a personal hydration system that generally includes a water reservoir or fluid bladder incorporated into the rear casing of the backpack and a hose that leads from the reservoir or bladder to a mouthpiece that is used by the hiker to obtain a drink of the water of other fluid. Prior art examples of these personal hydration systems fitted and equipped upon backpacks are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,387 to Gleason et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,343 to Anue. While these personal hydration systems incorporated into backpack units have been generally satisfactory in supplying drinking water to the user when desired, their working operation requires regular cleaning and maintenance of the system and together with the added initial cost of the backpack equipped with such personal hydration systems, limits their desirability and practicality to a substantial group of backpack users who require a more convenient and less complicated system for providing drinking water when needed.
Since convenience is an important factor when traveling with a backpack, most backpack users rely on getting their hydration directly from a bottle container of water or other liquid carried in a separate compartment on the backpack. Unfortunately, many of those backpack compartments adapted to carry a water bottle or other fluid container are difficult to reach and retrieve, especially while in transit and without stopping to remove the backpack. Since it is vital for a hiker to remain hydrated and always have ready access to fluids, particularly after extended periods exposed to the sun, there is a need for an improvement that can be incorporated into the standard construction of a hiking backpack that will provide easy and convenient access to a bottled supply of drinking fluid carried on the backpack without stopping to remove the backpack.